Apple may be on track to sell half as many iPhone 5Cs in the first 24 hours as it did with last year's iPhone 5, according to a new report.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster issued a note late Friday saying he expects Apple to tally up first-day preorders of around 1 million. That would be roughly half the 2 million preorders Apple reported following its first day of presales for last year's iPhone 5, and closer to the company's total ahead of 2011's iPhone 4S.

The big difference, of course, is that Apple is now selling two devices -- the less-expensive 5C, and the 5S -- both of which are a replacement to last year's iPhone 5, which has been discontinued. The 5C is the only device up for presale at the moment, with Apple planning to begin sales of the 5S at 12:01 a.m. PT next Friday, as well as through its carrier partners.

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Along with the estimate, Munster said that consumer sentiment for Apple's 5C model is "improving" since the device was unveiled earlier this week. That's based on a study of Twitter users who were being tracked over the past few days.

"We believe people who followed tech closely and were interested in the announcement panned the 5C since it had minimal changes from the 5, but as more normal people became involved in the conversation, it appears that color matters to consumers and the 5C could be more popular among the total consumer base than some may have expected," Munster wrote.

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Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
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